According to Iran’s state media Press TV, Khatam al-Anbiya Central Headquarters spokesman Ibrahim Zulfaghari said that at present the Strait of Hormuz is limited to enemies, but if the US follows through on its threat, it will be completely closed. He said that this strait is currently under the control of Iran and safe movement continues under special rules.

Also read: West Asia Crisis: Will Iran’s arrogance loosen within 72 hours or will it increase the problems for America and Israel?

Will destroy Israel’s energy plants: IRGC
Zulfaghari made clear that if Iran was harmed, Hormuz would not be opened until the damaged power plants were rebuilt. He also said that all of Israel’s energy and information technology infrastructure would be comprehensively targeted.

Apart from this, Iran also described the energy plants of those Gulf countries where US military bases are present as legitimate targets. Zulfaghari warned that regional companies in which Americans have stakes could also be completely destroyed.

Trump has given 48 hours ultimatum
He said that Iran is fully prepared to destroy all the economic interests of America in West Asia. However, he also reiterated that Iran is not inclined to start a war, but will take all possible steps to protect its interests.

Also read: US-Iran: ‘We will respond to every threat on the battlefield’, Iran’s President hits back after Trump’s warning

Earlier, US President Donald Trump had given a 48-hour ultimatum to Iran and said that if the Strait of Hormuz was not opened without any hindrance, America would target Iran’s major energy plants.

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Minnesota Wild reporter Jessi Pierce and her three children were killed in a house fire on Saturday.

The incident occurred in White Bear Lake, Minnesota, fire officials said. The White Bear Lake Fire Department responded to a report of a fire at a single-family home early Saturday morning.

CLICK HERE FOR MORE SPORTS COVERAGE ON FOXNEWS.COM

Bystanders reported seeing flames come through the roof, according to FOX 9. Fire crews also located the family’s dog who also died in the fire.

“The Minnesota Wild organization is heartbroken by the tragic loss of Jessi Pierce and her children,” the Wild said in a statement. “Jessi was a kind, compassionate person that cared deeply about her family and those around her. She served as a dedicated ambassador for the game of hockey during her time covering the Wild and the NHL.

JACK HUGHES CLARIFIES REMARKS ON OLYMPIC GOLD MEDAL PUCK AFTER HALL OF FAME SAYS IT’S STAYING PUT

“Jessi and her children will be greatly missed. Our thoughts and deepest condolences go out to their family, friends, and all who knew and loved them.”

Tributes poured out on social media as the NHL world remembered Pierce.

Pierce contributed to NHL.com as a Wild reporter as a Wild reporter for the last 10 seasons. Over the course of her career, she covered hockey at each level.

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“The entire National Hockey League family sends our prayers and deepest condolences to the Pierce family on the passing of Jessi Pierce and her three young children,” the NHL said in a statement. “Jessi loved our game and was a valued member of the NHL.com team for a decade. We will miss her terribly.”

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It’s no secret one of the NFL’s top priorities is continuing to build its brand globally.

But with the addition of more international games in different countries, including the NFL season reportedly kicking off on a Wednesday with a game in Melbourne, Australia in 2026 (it will technically be Thursday for Australians), the question must be asked: Will the Super Bowl end up overseas?

Legendary sports agent Leigh Steinberg can’t see it happening despite all the international momentum.

CLICK HERE FOR MORE SPORTS COVERAGE ON FOXNEWS.COM

“The Super Bowl has become a convention of Americana,” Steinberg told Fox News Digital during a recent phone call. “So, it’s not just an entertainment event – it’s a cultural event. Big business, big politics, big entertainment and big sports, along with fans, all coalesce in the city. To take that overseas, I think would be difficult.”

The NFL’s first regular-season game in its history was 2005, when the Arizona Cardinals and San Francisco 49ers traveled to Mexico City to play. But two years later, the league launched its “International Series,” a game between the New York Giants and Miami Dolphins at Wembley Stadium in London, England that kickstarted the push to continue bringing NFL games to overseas fans.

BROADCASTER TIM BRANDO SUGGESTS SPORTS FANS GET CONFUSED WHERE TO WATCH GAMES AS STREAMING TAKES OVER

Of course, every league wants to expand its reach, and the NFL has done a tremendous job of scheduling more games by the year, while also interacting in different ways with those fans, whether it’s through the NFL Draft or other activations. 

In 2026, there will be a record nine international regular-season games played, spanning across four different continents and seven different locations.

Other than Melbourne and London, where there will be three games, Paris, Rio de Janeiro, Munich, Madrid and Mexico City will all be host sites for the NFL in 2026.

But while fans continue to consume these games, some marking it on their calendars to travel to watch their favorite teams, do the teams themselves like it?

“They have mixed feelings,” Steinberg said. “They actually like the travel aspect of it, seeing different cultures and other things. But it takes a physical toll. I mean, to fly from [the West Coast] to London is 12 hours. Then, to fly back, it’s 14 hours. When you start moving east in Europe, it gets longer than that. So, it takes a physical toll.

“I think that if you ask the coaches, they don’t love international games, because it takes them out of the routine and schedule.”

Steinberg believes there needs to be more research done on the effects that jetlag and travel have on the human body, and whether it’s impacting the quality of play as well.

There’s no stopping the global push by the league, but will there come a point where it’s too much, especially for players and coaches to handle during a grueling season?

STEINBERG’S COMEBACK

While talking all things football, Steinberg also discussed life and how his fight through adversity led to him writing “The Comeback: A Playbook for Turning Life’s Setbacks into Victories.”

Steinberg had built an empire by representing the best athletes in the world, but he also dealt with alcoholism and financial struggles, ultimately bringing him to rock bottom. But he rebuilt himself through those hard times, and with this book, he’s hoping to help others do the same. 

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Also sharing stories of athletes dealing with similar adversities, Steinberg believes all readers should come away with this lesson learned. 

“Internal introspection,” he said. “A realistic understanding of your own values and priorities, whether it’s short-term economic gain, long-term economic security, spiritual values, family. It’s to have clarity internally in terms of what really constitutes a fulfilling life. Then, coming up with a plan to get back to that.”

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New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani is under fire for backing a plan that would slash New York’s estate tax exemption by nearly 90%, a move opponents say could drag middle-class families into a tax burden long aimed at the rich.

New York is one of the states that imposes its own estate tax in addition to the federal levy, and the proposed changes would dramatically expand its reach—potentially sweeping in not just the wealthy, but families whose primary asset is a home they hoped to pass on to their children.

MAMDANI’S RENT FREEZE, TAX HIKES A ‘ONE-TWO WEALTH DESTRUCTION PUNCH,’ ECONOMISTS WARN

The plan would sharply reduce how much of an estate can be passed on tax-free, cutting the threshold from $7.35 million to just $750,000, among the lowest in the country, meaning far more estates would be subject to taxation.

In addition, Mamdani is proposing to more than triple the state’s top estate tax rate, raising it from 16% to 50%, a combination that could generate billions in new revenue for New York.

Edward Pinto, a senior fellow and co-director of the AEI Housing Center at the American Enterprise Institute, told Fox News Digital the proposal could push residents and their wealth out of New York.

“This proposal would destroy NYC’s wealth in a different manner,” Pinto said.

“This estate tax proposal will mistreat capital and result in the voluntary exodus of NYC residents and their wealth to places like Florida and Tennessee,” he added.

FROM FREE BUSES TO CITY-OWNED GROCERY STORES, HERE ARE MAMDANI’S KEY ECONOMIC PROMISES

Others echoed similar concerns, pointing to the potential impact on families and long-term financial planning.

Joshua Rowley, a research fellow at the Mercatus Center at George Mason University, said estate taxes can force families to liquidate assets and increasingly reach beyond the wealthy.

“Estate taxes force citizens to liquidate assets to pay taxes on previously taxed assets—putting homes, retirement accounts, and businesses in the crosshairs,” Rowley said. “It would also discourage responsible retirement planning and punish parents for the sole crime of wanting to leave their children better off.”

He added that proposals aimed at taxing the wealthy often expand over time.

“But the Mamdani proposal also pulls back the curtain on all tax-the-rich solutions. What starts off as an exclusive tax on the rich invariably gets expanded to lower income groups to satisfy the government’s spending addiction,” Rowley said.

The estate tax proposal is just one piece of Mamdani’s wider policy push.

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His housing plan, a campaign promise aimed at addressing affordability, includes an immediate freeze on roughly 2 million rent-stabilized apartments. 

Separately, his broader $127 billion budget agenda calls for higher taxes on wealthy residents and corporations, as well as a potential 9.5% property tax increase if state lawmakers decline to act.

In the nation’s largest city and a global financial center, the outcome of Mamdani’s proposals could shape not only the future of New York’s housing market, but also broader debates over regulation, taxation and urban policy.

Mamdani’s office did not respond to Fox News Digital’s request for comment.

The Valspar Championship had a stoppage in play on Saturday when a young girl was hit by a golf cart, and Brooks Koepka, back on the PGA Tour after defecting to LIV Golf, sprang into action. 

Koepka was spotted running over to the girl to comfort her after she ended up underneath the golf cart, which was moving around spectators. At the time, Koepka was playing the par 3 15th hole. 

NBC Sports broadcaster Dan Hicks said the girl ended up under the golf cart, but did not suffer serious injury. 

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“She’s going to be OK after medical evaluation,” walking reporter Smylie Kaufman said over the air. “Very scary moment.”

Koepka, who heads into the final round on Sunday tied for 13th with a 5-under score, spoke about the incident after his Saturday round. 

“I just felt terrible for, I believe her name is Shay, so from all the reports you’ve got she’s OK, thankfully,” Koepka said, according to Golf.com. “So, that’s all that matters, as long as she’s OK.”

BROOKS KOEPKA’S ATTORNEY GIVES INSIDE LOOK INTO GOLFER’S LIV DEPARTURE, REETURN TO PGA TOUR

Koepka added that he thought she was “probably a little scared.”

“I just felt for her at the time. So, it’s unfortunate, it shouldn’t have happened, but as long as she’s OK, no, nothing crazy happened to her, then it will be OK.”

Koepka said the moment didn’t affect him once he got back to play on the course. 

The five-time major championship winner made headlines when he reached an agreement with the PGA Tour to return after defecting to LIV Golf after more than four years with the Saudi-backed rival tour. At the time, Koepka cited more family time as a key factor to his decision to get out of his LIV Golf deal. 

“Brooks has felt over the years that the travel being so intense and so international that it kept him away from his family, and I think as time went on, he longed to spend more time with his family and be closer to the U.S.,” Freedman, a co-founder of Liner Freedman Taitelman + Cooley LLP, told Fox News Digital in a recent interview. 

LIV Golf has had tour stops in Australia, Singapore and other places around the world.

Freedman also praised the PGA Tour for welcoming Koepka back with semi-open arms.

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“I think the reaction was really positive. It’s great. The PGA has been wonderful, they welcomed him back. There are certainly restrictions that he has, and he’ll abide by them. “But I think they have been incredible in the way in which they have welcomed him back,” Freedman explained. “I think he’s really excited. I think he’s excited to make amends with the players and do his best to just kind of be a golfer among golfers, as a worker among workers, and really go in there and be humble and walk in with the humility and the grace that Brooks walks around with.”

In his four events thus far this season, Koepka has one top-10 and two top-25 finishes, making three of four cuts in a successful return to the PGA Tour. 

Fox News’ Ryan Morik contributed to this report.

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Arsenal have been beaten in the Carabao Cup final at Wembley with Manchester City’s young full-back, Nico O’Reilly, stunning their rivals with two goals in four minutes.

After a goalless first half, O’Reilly opened the scoring in the 60th minute when Arsenal keeper Kepa Arrizabalaga fumbled the ball into his path from a few yards out.

Four minutes later, O’Reilly scored again, doubling City’s advantage.

Arsenal went into the cup final still in contention for an unprecedented, but unlikely, quadruple.

After a less-than-successful season so far, Manchester City were hoping to pick up some silverware.

Despite being goalless in the first half, both sides had chances with Erling Haaland heading over from short range and City’s keeper James Trafford pulling out a triple save to keep Arsenal out.

Read more: Sky Sports blog – Arsenal vs Man City

Sky Sports’ Gary Neville said: “City have been fantastic in this second half. There were many like myself who fancied Arsenal this afternoon, but Arteta will be bewildered with how his team have performed.”

This breaking news story is being updated and more details will be published shortly.

Please refresh the page for the fullest version.

You can receive breaking news alerts on a smartphone or tablet via the Sky News app. You can also follow us on WhatsApp and subscribe to our YouTube channel to keep up with the latest news.

Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., condemned President Donald Trump’s plan to deploy U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents to U.S. airports on Sunday.

Schumer made the comments while speaking on the Senate floor Sunday, saying Trump’s decision is “impulsive” and could make the situation at airports worse.

“Today, Donald Trump and [Tom] Homan are saying they will deploy ICE agents to airports starting on Monday. This is really disturbing. ICE agents who are untrained and have caused problems everywhere they’ve gone lurking at our airports. That’s asking for trouble, and it will certainly make the chaos at the airports even worse,” Schumer said.

“No one has any faith in ICE agents. They haven’t received training. They don’t know what it is to be a TSA person and do what you need to do,” he continued. “And the real problem here is they have no plan for using these ICE agents. Trump says, send them there. They send them there. And Homan says they’re still drawing up plans with less than a day’s notice. What is this? We know what it is. It’s another impulsive action by Donald Trump.”

SCHUMER GAMBIT FAILS AS DHS SHUTDOWN HITS 36 DAYS AND AIRPORT LINES GROW

“Some idea pops into his head and he announces it. And then the people working for him, a few of whom do have some degree of talent and ability. Not many underlings. They have to rush to try and implement what they know is an idiotic plan,” he said.

The ICE deployment is Trump’s latest move in the battle with Democrats over funding for the Department of Homeland Security. Schumer and his allies have refused to approve DHS funding without reforms to immigration enforcement.

TSA agents across the country have gone more than a month without a paycheck, with no clear end in sight.

Trump first threatened to deploy ICE to airports on Saturday, demanding that Democrats “immediately sign an agreement” to fund DHS.

DHS SHUTDOWN TRIGGERS TSA ‘EMERGENCY MEASURES’ AS LAWMAKER WARNS AIRPORTS COULD FEEL ECONOMIC PAIN

Airports across the country have reported huge numbers of employees calling out sick or not showing up for work. More than 400 TSA employees have quit their jobs.

“On Monday, ICE will be going to airports to help our wonderful TSA Agents who have stayed on the job despite the fact that the Radical Left Democrats, who are only focused on protecting hard-line criminals who have entered our Country illegally, are endangering the USA by holding back the money that was long ago agreed to with signed and sealed contracts, and all,” Trump wrote Sunday on Truth Social.

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Trump also predicted blowback from Democrats, saying they would complain “no matter how great a job ICE does.”

Most of us have received a random text that makes us pause for a second. Maybe it promises a prize. Maybe it claims to be from a delivery company. Lately, another type of message is spreading quickly: the remote job scam.

That is exactly what happened to Peter from New York. He wrote in after receiving a suspicious message about a high-paying YouTube job.

Here is what he sent:

“I received this text today, and I think it’s a scam. How can I tell for sure, and what do I do next?”

Below is the message Peter received. At first glance, it looks like a job opportunity. However, when you break it down line by line, several warning signs appear. Let’s walk through them.

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FAKE GOOGLE SECURITY PAGE CAN TURN YOUR BROWSER INTO A SPYING TOOL

Red flag 1: A random job offer from a stranger

The text comes from an unknown international phone number starting with +63, which is the country code for the Philippines. Legitimate companies rarely recruit through random text messages from unknown numbers. Real employers usually contact candidates through job platforms, email or professional networks like LinkedIn. When a job appears out of nowhere and promises high pay, it should immediately raise suspicion.

Red flag 2: The pay is wildly unrealistic

The message claims:

• $200 to $600 per day
• $10,000 or more per month

Those numbers are a major warning sign. Entry-level remote work, such as “boosting video views” or “YouTube optimization,” does not pay anywhere near that range. Scammers often use unusually high pay to trigger excitement and urgency. When money sounds too good to be true, it usually is.

Red flag 3: No experience required but huge income

The text says “no experience required, free paid training provided.” Scammers often combine high income with zero qualifications. That combination is designed to attract as many people as possible.

Real digital marketing jobs usually require:

• SEO or marketing experience
• Analytics knowledge
• Platform expertise

A company offering $10K per month with no requirements is not realistic.

BE AWARE OF EXTORTION SCAM EMAILS CLAIMING YOUR DATA IS STOLEN

Red flag 4: The job description is vague

The text claims the job is to “increase video exposure and view count.”

That description is extremely vague. It does not explain:

• What tools you would use
• What company you would work for
• How the work is measured

Scam job offers often stay vague so they can adapt the story later.

Red flag 5: Pressure to respond immediately

The message says: “5 urgent openings available, first come first served.” This is a classic scam tactic. Urgency pushes people to respond quickly before they have time to research the offer. Real companies rarely hire qualified candidates on a first-come basis through text messages.

Red flag 6: The strange reply instructions

The message tells recipients to reply “OK” and then send a numeric code. This step is often used to move the conversation to another messaging platform, such as Telegram or WhatsApp, where scammers continue the scheme. Once the conversation moves there, victims may be asked to:

• Complete fake tasks
• Send cryptocurrency
• Pay deposits for “training”

These scams are often called task scams, where victims complete simple online tasks and may even receive small payments at first before scammers demand larger deposits for payouts that never come. They have exploded worldwide over the past few years.

Red flag 7: No company information

The message never names a real company. It mentions a “manager” named Goldie but provides:

• No company website
• No corporate email
• No office address

Legitimate employers want applicants to know who they are. Scammers avoid details that can be verified.

How these YouTube job scams usually work

Many of these scams follow the same pattern. First, scammers promise easy money for simple tasks lsuch as liking videos or boosting views. At the beginning, they may even send a small payment to build trust. Then things change. Victims are asked to deposit money to unlock larger payouts or complete “premium tasks.” Once payments are sent, the scammers disappear. The Federal Trade Commission says Americans lost hundreds of millions of dollars to job scams in recent years, and text message recruitment scams are rising fast.

 Google warns about growing job scams and how to verify recruiters

We reached out to Google, and a spokesperson provided the following statement to CyberGuy:

“Google is aware of these job scams happening across the industry and believes they’re growing around the world. We strongly encourage any candidate, or individual receiving them, to exercise caution and report it to the platform you received it on as a phishing attempt and/or spam. Our recruiting team focuses on contacting candidates in official capacities and are very clear about who we are, why we’re reaching out, and do so from legitimate emails or profiles on job sites. Jobseekers should verify anyone contacting them by email addresses, looking up the person online, such as on LinkedIn, and if something does seem suspicious, flag it to the outlet where it was received. Folks can also vet and report these scams to Google at support.google.com. Our Google careers page reflects all of our current job postings, so candidates should check offers against those. Generally speaking, Google also continues to offer a range of tools and insights that help people automatically spot and avoid scams like these whether they receive them via email, search results, text messages, etc.”

FAKE GOOGLE GEMINI AI PUSHES ‘GOOGLE COIN’ CRYPTO SCAM

Ways to stay safe from job text scams

If you receive a message like Peter’s, here are some smart steps to take.

1) Never respond to unknown job texts

Replying confirms your number is active. That can lead to more scam messages.

2) Do not click links or download attachments

Scam texts sometimes include links that lead to phishing pages designed to steal login credentials or financial information. Install strong antivirus software on your devices, which can help detect malicious links, block dangerous websites and warn you before you open something risky. Get my picks for the best 2026 antivirus protection winners for your Windows, Mac, Android & iOS devices at Cyberguy.com.

3) Reduce how easily scammers can find your information

Scammers often harvest phone numbers and personal details from data broker sites and public profiles. Using a data removal service to remove your information from these sites can make it harder for criminals to target you with job scams and other fraud. Check out my top picks for data removal services and get a free scan to find out if your personal information is already out on the web by visiting Cyberguy.com.

4) Research the company independently

Search for the company name online. Look for an official website, verified social media or job listings.

5) Avoid jobs that ask for money

Legitimate employers never require deposits for training, equipment or task access.

6) Block and report the number

You can report scam texts directly from your phone.

On iPhone:

Open the message, tap the phone number at the top of the screen, scroll down and select Block Contact. You can also tap Report Spam under the message. If the option appears, then click Delete and Report Spam, which sends the report to Apple and deletes the message.

On Samsung Galaxy phones:

Steps may vary slightly depending on your Samsung model and software version.

Open the Messages app and select the conversation. Tap the three-dot menu in the upper right corner, then tap Block and report spam, then confirm by tapping Yes. This blocks the number and helps Samsung identify and filter future scam messages.

7) Report it to the FTC

In the United States, you can report scams at reportfraud.ftc.gov. Reports help investigators track large scam networks.

So what should Peter do next?

The safest move is simple. Peter should not reply to the message. Instead, he should block the number and report it as spam. If he has already responded, he should stop communicating immediately and avoid clicking any links or sending money. If he shared personal information such as his phone number, email address or financial details, it may also be wise to monitor his accounts closely and consider signing up for an identity theft protection service. The good news is that spotting the red flags early can prevent a much bigger problem later. See my tips and best picks on Best Identity Theft Protection at Cyberguy.com.

Kurt’s key takeaways 

Scammers constantly adapt their tactics. Today, it might be a fake delivery notice. Tomorrow, it might be a high-paying remote job. The message Peter received hits many of the classic warning signs: unrealistic pay, vague job duties, urgent language and a request to reply quickly. When a stranger promises easy money through a random text message, pause for a moment. That short pause can save you a lot of trouble.

Now I am curious. If a text suddenly promised you $10,000 a month for simple online tasks, would you recognize the warning signs before replying? Let us know by writing to us at Cyberguy.com.

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California Gov. Gavin Newsom’s repeated claims in recent weeks promoting his state as more tax-friendly than Florida and Texas don’t add up, according to an expert who ran the numbers.

“Texas and Florida are the REAL high-tax states,” Newsom recently posted on X, explaining onstage at SXSW in Austin, Texas that California has the most “progressive tax rates in America” while taking shots at the tax burden in Florida and Texas.

“Your middle class pays more taxes in Texas than our middle class in California,” Newsom said in Texas. “It’s a great mythology, it’s just ‘the richest of the rich come here because they can avoid paying a damn penny.”

The comments drew pushback from conservatives on social media, including Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis, and from Just Facts President James Agresti, who says he looked into a “number of different angles” to determine the “validity” of Newsom’s claims.

FROM ‘JUMP ON A BUS’ TO TAX CRACKDOWNS: BLUE STATES CHASE WEALTHY RESIDENTS FLEEING TO RED HAVENS

“I looked at how much is each state taxing each of its citizens on average? So if you look at California, they collect about $10,000 a year in taxes for every person in the state, whereas the figures for Texas and Florida are only about $5,000, or about half as much,” Agresti told Fox News Digital.

“However, California is a higher-income state, so I also looked at it as a percentage of the states’ economies and what I found is that California taxes about 14% of its economy, as opposed to 9% for Texas and Florida.”

Just Facts broke those taxes down in a recent study and found that California imposes some of the highest taxes in the nation, with a top personal income tax rate of 13.3%, while both Texas and Florida have no state income tax.

Property taxes in California account for about 2.8% of personal income, slightly lower than Texas at 3.6% and close to Florida’s 2.6%, though measured as a share of home values, California’s rates are generally lower than both states, but in other tax areas, California is largely more burdensome.

The state’s unemployment insurance tax rate matches Texas at 6.2%, but is higher than Florida’s 5.4%. California also has a higher statewide sales tax at 7.2%, compared to 6.2% in Texas and 6.0% in Florida. Drivers in California face significantly higher gas taxes as well, paying 70.9 cents per gallon, more than triple Texas’ 20 cents and well above Florida’s 40.3 cents.

PROPOSED CALIFORNIA WEALTH TAX DRIVES BILLIONAIRE EXODUS TO FLORIDA REAL ESTATE, LOCALS CONFIRM

A Wallethub 2025 analysis ranking U.S. states by overall tax burden showed California coming in at 4th overall, behind Vermont, New York and Hawaii. On a per-capita basis, California also collects significantly more in state and local taxes than either state, according to data from the Tax Foundation. 

At the heart of the issue is the data, Agresti says, making the case that Newsom is likely pulling from the Institute On Taxation & Economic Policy (ITEP) which Agresti said is widely used by mainstream news outlets and experts but is “fatally flawed” because “it does not account for all forms of income or all taxes.”

Agresti has been speaking out against ITEP’s methodology for over a decade, explaining in a 2015 post that the group “uses a partial measure of income in virtually all of its studies” and is “based on calculations that exclude certain taxes.”

CALIFORNIA BILLIONAIRES FLEE STATE’S WEALTH TAX IN THE MOST-PREDICTABLE RESULT EVER

ITEP’s analysis focuses on how tax burdens are distributed across income groups rather than overall tax levels. The group argues that states such as Texas and Florida look “low tax” largely because they do not levy a broad-based personal income tax, a structure that disproportionately benefits high earners.

To make up the difference, those states rely more heavily on sales, excise and property taxes, which tend to take a larger share of income from lower-income households. California, by contrast, uses a highly progressive income tax system that places more of the burden on top earners and helps offset regressive taxes lower down the income ladder.

Critics, however, say that framing captures only part of the picture because it focuses on tax burden by income group rather than overall tax climate, where California remains far more burdensome for top earners, investors and many businesses.

“It’s information from this group and others like it, by the way, that have misled people to believe that middle-income folks in the United States pay a higher federal tax rate than upper-income folks,” Agresti said. 

“In fact, a survey done by Just Facts found that about 80% of America’s voters believe this fiction, even though the Congressional Budget Office, the U.S. Treasury, and the center-left Tax Policy Center all say that middle-income Americans pay an average effective federal tax rate of about 15% while upper income, or the top 1%, pay a rate of about 30%. And by the way, that includes all taxes and all income, all tax loopholes, it’s basically all taxes paid divided by all income earned or received.”

Fox News Digital reached out to ITEP for comment.

Agresti said Newsom is a “master of twisting statistics to paint a picture that is the exact inverse of reality” and pointed to the governor’s claim that the exodus of residents due to high taxes is a “myth.”

“Here’s the facts: According to his own Secretary of State, every year of Newsom’s governorship, more people have moved out of California into other states than have moved from other states into California,” Agresti, who has posted the data on his website, said. “In fact, over the time of his governorship, about 1.5 more million people have left California than moved in.”

“So how does Newsom get his claim, his evidence? Well, he looks at total population growth, which is dominated by immigrants moving in from other countries. The issue is not whether people would rather live in California than Mexico, but whether they would rather live in California than other states. And the data clearly show they do not.”

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Newsom has also been touting data showing California now has the fourth-largest economy in the world, just surpassing Japan’s, which Agresti also took issue with and described as “fiction” according to his examination of the numbers.

“Here’s the fatal flaw in what he’s doing there,” Agresti said. “He is converting Japanese yen into U.S. dollars using a highly deceptive measure called foreign currency exchange rates. Scholars in this field warn explicitly: You are not to convert GDPs using exchange rates because it inflates the relative sizes of economies that have high prices, as California does. When you actually look at the proper way to transfer these exchange rates and account for them, Japan’s GDP is 56% larger than California’s.”

Additionally, Agresti pointed to data that shows California has a greater rate of poverty than any other state in the nation, as well as electricity prices that are more than twice the national average.

“When you look at California as a whole, it is one of the highest-tax states in the nation, and also there’s a lot of fallout from Newsom’s policies that make it one of the most expensive places to live in the entire United States,” Agresti said.

Fox News Digital reached out to Newsom’s office for comment.

Fox News Digital’s Bradford Betz contributed to this report